As the use of the Internet has increased so, correspondingly, has the interest in the availability of services over the internet. However, to ensure that users are protected from fraudulent service providers it has been necessary to provide trust mechanisms to ensure that users are provided information to allow determination as to whether a service provider and accordingly the associated services and/or information relating to the services can be trusted.
However, mechanisms to establish a trusted relationship between two parties over the internet can be complex, for example the use of PKI infrastructure involves a trust authority vouching for a service provider, where a trust authority vouches for an independent service provider through the use of a digital certificate associated with a service provider that involves the issuing of an associated private and public keys to the service provider and a user respectively.
Additionally, encryption of data over communication links established between users on the internet is common. However, the encryption of data is used to ensure a certain level of confidentiality of the data and does not necessarily enhance the levels of trust between the users.
It is desirable to improve this situation.